Switching from iPhone to Android: Widgets are a winner – Day 15

When we set reader Rob the challenge of switching from iPhone to Android we knew the challenge wouldn’t be easy.

His first impressions were good, but didn’t show signs it would last quite frankly.  So how is he getting on after two weeks?

Day 15

So It’s been two weeks since I started using the Samsung A7 after moving away from my trusted iPhone 6. After I wrote my initial impressions, Trevor and I spoke on his podcast ‘Your Tech Life’ and he asked me if I had still been using my iPhone. I confessed that I had been guilty of reverting back to my iPhone in the first few days. Why wouldn’t I? It’s where I had been so comfortable for so long, it was a hard habit to break. So with that, my iPhone was turned off and hasn’t been turned on since. I have since been 100% in the Android space.

I have become a lot more comfortable using the phone in the past two weeks. I have progressively downloaded more apps and played around with the widgets. Widgets is one of the features that really sets Android apart from the iPhone. Sure, Apple have started introducing them in the notification centre, but unlike Android, you really need to search for them. So I give a big thumbs up for the widgets.

I have been able to use the camera consistently and have to give it a pretty big thumbs up. The photos I have taken in good light, look great on the phone and look pretty good when viewed on the computer. For almost everyone, the camera on the Samsung A7 is plenty good enough and has enough features.

I’m still no fan of the notification centre on the phone. They just don’t display notifications how I want to see them and despite some words of encouragement on my first post, the three buttons down the bottom are just overkill. Yep, I get it, they have their own individual uses but come on, this is where the simplicity of the iPhone kills Android.

One thing that became more obvious in the past two weeks was just how big the change was from the 4.7 inch iPhone to the 5.5 inch Samsung A7. I loved the bigger screen for viewing content but day to day use, I have found the bigger phone was actually a hindrance in the main uses of the phone. What was once a one handed job to use the phone has become a two handed job and I find requires more concentration to avoid dropping it. The concern about dropping it might also be related to the shiny casing of the phone that makes we feel like it’s going to slip right out of my hand at any moment. But as I wrote this post, I discovered a feature that allows me to shrink down the screen for one handed use. I look forward to using this feature as I move forward.

The keyboard and the auto-correct still drive me nuts. It is the single thing that would push me away from Android and never look back. There is no setting that I can find to allow the keyboard to auto-correct spelling and grammar as I type. I find myself sending less messages, instead making a phone call just because I find the phone call quicker.

So this is where I’m at after a solid two weeks of using the Samsung A7. I’ve come along way. I’ve become much more comfortable living in the Android ecosystem. I think it’s fair to say that it’s become a big adjustment in something that we all so heavily rely upon. There’s no doubt that I’m still frustrated by some aspects and I really under-estimated just how big a change this was to become.